Pocket Gamer's (unofficial) GC 2008 mobile awards

It's been quite a week. Team PG is limping home from the Games Convention show in Leipzig, with heads full of new games, notebooks full of interview quotes, and livers full of… actually, we're trying not to think too much about our livers.

But what were the hits of the show? The best games, the hottest trends, and the best rumours. We've collected them below, for a handy cut 'n' paste 'n' keep guide to GC 2008 from a mobile point of view.

On we go, then:

Best Mobile Game
It might not have a publishing deal, but that'll surely be remedied within weeks. Australian developer Firemint's Real Racing had the mobile industry buzzing, thanks to its slick motion steering and integration with Facebook and YouTube.

Hottest Trend
Advanced mobile gaming, with iPhone and N-Gage to the fore. All the mobile developers we met were talking really fast and in a high pitch about making games for these platforms, and were full of ideas for how they can make the most of them (a longer piece on this can be found over on PocketGamer.biz).

Best WTF! Moment
It has to be seeing a Gizmondo displayed in a perspex case like a museum exhibit, next to an N-Gage. It was enough to make us wish we'd bought a few for eBay posterity when it was still on sale.

Coolest Mobile Game Pitch
GPS-based Monopoly which works out where you are, and makes all the street names your local streets, before letting you play against your friends by actually walking round them. It was one of the ideas suggested in the Dragons Den-style pitching session at the Game Convention Developers Conference.

Best Rumour
The one about Nokia preparing a 'buy the handset, get free games for a year' Comes With Music service was a corker. Although it was narrowly beaten by the 'Rockstar Leeds is working on iPhone Grand Theft Auto' rumour. We sincerely hope that one's true.

Most Impressive Deal
Zeemote was in pole position for this one, after striking a deal to distribute its JS1 Bluetooth controller with N-Gage handsets. However, it was trumped by Player X's announcement that it's bringing PlayStation franchises Buzz! and Destruction Derby to mobile – the first time Sony Computer Entertainment has let a third-party publisher get its mobile hands on PlayStation licences.

Prize For Making Us Feel Ashamed Of Our Cynicism
EA Mobile scoops this, for confounding our expectations that its new version of Deal or No Deal would be just like the existing Gameloft version. We can't wait to play as The Banker when the game comes out later this year.

Coolest Non-Game
Jamba's Thomas Richter wowed us in a bar with a suite of mobile magic tricks, which go on sale this week. Bonus points for not, at any point, pulling Schnuffel Bunny out of a hat.

Strangest Sight
100,000 excited German gamers running through the show entrance to play the Dewy's Adventure mobile game on consumer day. Okay, they could have been heading for the Sony PS3 stand, but you never know…

Best Mobile Game We'd Get In Trouble For Telling You About
Definitely when we accidentally quit out of BLANK during an interview with BLANK and saw an icon with the name of ultra-hot console game BLANK on the phone's menu. We were so surprised, we BLANKED right there and then.

Biggest Crime Waiting To Happen
At any trade show where the general public are let in, stand furniture gets nicked. It's a fact of life. So we sincerely hope some punter ended up wandering away from the Leipzig Messe whistling while towing this giant Death Star. We would've had a crack at it ourselves if it wasn't for Air Berlin's stringent 'no great big inflatable intergalactic headquarters on the plane' policy.